SOME of Nelson Mandela Bay’s cricketers are producing top performances all around the world and it would be a pity if their momentum is stopped by COVID-19 developments.
Many Bay players have been chosen for representative teams but it is now uncertain if they will get the chance to display their skills.
From a team point of view, the Warriors can’t wait for the next match in the provincial four-day series. The Bay team surprised last week by beating Western Province by an innings and 114 runs within two days.
It was a fine team effort but the performance of the young opening batsman, Matthew Breetzke, caught the eye once again.
He batted beautifully on the first day of the match to score a century.
Breetzke is in tremendous form and has matured as a batsman. This could be a great season for him.
This match was played at St George’s Park, South Africa’s oldest test ground, with that low and slow pitch.
Looking at the scores of Western Province – a paltry 79 and 173 – after the Warriors made a solid 366, something must have happened with the St George’s pitch.
Has that low and slow pitch gone and are we seeing a pitch full of life that will assist the bowlers?
Sorry bowlers, but the Western Province batters were the first to admit that nothing has changed at St George’s Park.
Chatting to some of them at the Dawid Stuurman airport on Saturday morning, they admitted they messed things up – nothing wrong with that beloved pitch of ours.
It is now up to the Warriors’ bowlers to show this performance was no fluke. Their next assignment starts on December 19 against the Dolphins in Durban.
While the blushing Western Province players were on their flight back home, two Bay cricketers were caught up in a bit of a reluctant battle miles away from home in Perth.
The Proteas captain, Dané van Niekerk, playing for the Adelaide Strikers, was taking on the bowling of her wife and fellow Protea, Marizanne Kapp, in the final of the Women’s Big Bash League.
It must have been an emotional challenge and bragging rights will belong to Kapp for some time.
Kapp, playing for the Perth Scorchers that won by 12 runs, gave a wonderful performance to be named player of the match.
She played a gem of an innings, unbeaten with 31 runs off 23 deliveries, and then sealed the deal by bowling four disciplined overs (1/25).
What made this performance even more remarkable is that Kapp was under the weather in the week leading up to the final and could not prepare well for the match.
Sorry, Dané, you’ll get her next time.
